The demonstrations held over the weekend in more than a dozen cities in China have become an unprecedented challenge for the president of the Asian giant, Xi Jinping, who now sees his strict policy of restrictions and confinements to end the coronavirus in jeopardy.
From Shanghai to Beijing, thousands of people have decided to take to the streets to firmly show their clear opposition to the measures taken by the government, harshly criticized for subjecting the population to the well-known policy to eradicate the virus.
The problems caused by the establishment of these regulations, which have led to the authorities’ failure to act in emergency situations, have caused an already extremely tense situation to explode in a country where large-scale protests are unusual.
The population is now demanding more freedoms and has gone so far as to call on Xi to step down after nearly three years of mass testing, harsh confinement and mandatory quarantines at an economic and humanitarian cost.
Mario Esteban, senior researcher for Asia-Pacific at the Elcano Royal Institute, told Europa Press that «a large part of the population believed that after the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China held in October the measures would be relaxed, which in reality has not happened».
«The changes have been minimal. I think that has also facilitated the emergence of these protests, because many people expected a change around November,» he said.
At the center of these protests is the fire in a house in the city of Urumqi, in the western region of Xinjiang, where at least 10 people died on Saturday, allegedly due to the slow response of firefighters precisely because of the restrictions against the coronavirus. The city in question had been under quarantine for more than 100 days, leading residents to remain isolated in their homes for a long period of time.
«Such a trigger was needed, probably so obvious because the Chinese government’s argument so far to justify such severe measures was to prioritize health, to save lives…. But, precisely, people understand that if it is policies that provoke this kind of tragedy, it generates anger,» he said in relation to the fire and the subsequent public reaction.
In this sense, he recalled that even in Spain «we have experienced that, the more time passes with these measures in force, the more people become fed up» and he emphasized that the government «is now being subjected to greater pressure» despite the fact that «the debate already existed previously in China».
«Xi Jinping himself has shown significant immobility during this time. He has invested a lot in identifying himself in this policy of not living with the virus,» said Esteban, who, although it is «evident» that the pressure is increasing, «it is not clear if in the short term there will be changes.» «It is difficult to foresee,» he said, although he admitted that «if there are no changes it is easier to produce greater discontent».
THE ROLE OF THE STUDENTS Dozens of university campuses have registered protests by students demanding greater openness on the part of the government, a scenario reminiscent of the strong demonstrations of 1989 in the country. This parallelism, according to Esteban, is embedded in the Chinese population’s imagination.
«Students are one of the main sectors that are mobilizing, it is a group that has historically had the capacity to drag other social sectors along. This in the imaginary is very much identified with the Tiananmen protests, but it goes beyond that,» he stressed.
In this sense, he emphasized that «if one looks at the great mobilizations that have taken place in China throughout the 20th century (…) students have traditionally played a very active role». «It has an important symbolic value because it can drag more people,» he insisted.
On the possibility of divisions in the leadership of the Government and the security forces making excessive use of force, he explained that «it is difficult to think of a division within the leadership after the latest changes» following the National Congress and defended that «it is too early to know if it will end tragically as in ’89».
«This is very important because in these regimes, if there are no cracks, it is difficult for the population to force the hand of the authorities», he said, while stressing that a fragmentation in the Government is not to be expected, as he indicated, «it is not going to change its narrative».
On the other hand, he remarked that «it has been a long time, decades, since we have seen a protest movement so transversal and capable of mobilizing diverse social groups and regionally so widespread in the same period of time in China» and did not rule out that the protests are in an «initial phase» as they spread throughout the mainland.
CENSORSHIP AND BLANK PAPERS Many demonstrators have come to the marches with blank sheets of paper, an issue that has been understood as a protest also against censorship and the lack of freedom of expression in the Asian giant.
This idea has its roots in protests such as those that took place in 2020 in the Hong Kong region, where demonstrators held up blank papers to protest against the controversial National Security Law, which according to human rights advocates would undermine the individual freedoms of the population.
Now, the use of these papers is spreading in an attempt to circumvent censorship and avoid arrests after several people were detained throughout the day.
Although for the moment there have been no serious clashes between the police and demonstrators, several organizations have denounced strong measures against journalists, including British journalist Edward Lawrence, who works for the BBC television network and has been beaten during his arrest. This has led associations such as the Foreign Correspondents Club of China to criticize the actions of the agents, especially in Beijing and Shanghai.
Meanwhile, authorities in major cities such as Guangzhou, Beijing and Chongqing, among others, have ordered measures such as road closures and blocking the entrances and exits of residential complexes in order to limit participation in the marches.
China is currently recording its highest number of coronavirus infections since the beginning of the pandemic. On Monday alone, health authorities spoke of some 40,000 new cases.
The protesters, who continue to take to the streets in a bid for greater freedom despite the pandemic, now pose a challenge to Xi, who will have to analyze the consequences of going ahead with a policy that is no longer welcomed by the entire population.
